PHOTO: Telegram
Influencers in the UK’s COVID-conspiracist movement are organising a charity boxing match to raise funds for anti-vax home schooling.The “Hope and Glory” boxing night, to be held in London in June, will pit 12 fighters against each other from the so-called “resistance” – the conspiracy-obsessed movement that believes coronavirus is a plot against the masses. A poster advertising the event, featuring pictures of shirtless fighters with their fists up, has been circulated on COVID-conspiracist Telegram channels. Organisers say the night is “to give all truthers a venue to meet up for the evening and enjoy each other’s company,” while raising funds for HOPE Sussex, a “community education venue” for homeschooled children that’s associated with the “resistance” movement. Ringside tickets to the event are selling for £50 ($65.80).The event is the latest example of macho posturing from leading figures within the UK’s radicalised COVID-conspiracist scene, which has become increasingly militant in its attempts to halt the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, especially to children.The fight night is being sponsored and promoted by a man named Danny who runs a popular conspiracy Telegram channel, “Truth Pills,” with more than 31,000 subscribers, devoted to exposing “the COVID hoax, governments, paedophiles, and everything else against humanity!”READ: “Sovereign citizen” activists tried to seize Edinburgh Castle. They failedThe other team is led by a prominent anti-vax activist known as Matthew, who regularly posts videos of himself encouraging to COVID conspiracist Telegram channels. He was the leader of a group of sovereign citizen activists that stormed a pharmacy in Normanton, Yorkshire in January demanding that it stop administering COVID vaccines, citing a police crime reference number they falsely believed meant that the vaccines were under criminal investigation.READ: Police debunked the ‘COVID crime number’ theory and anti-vaxxers are furiousDanny, of “Truth Pills”, who is scheduled to fight at the charity night himself, has also previously attended Alpha Men Assemble training sessions. He posted a video to Telegram after one meet-up praising the hard-line group as “the path we need to be taking.”“This is what I’ve been waiting for: some leadership, some organisation, some real, real stuff,” he said in the video.“These dirty disgusting governments, police, doctors, nurses – we know who our enemy is now.”Asked about the motivation for holding the fight night, and whether the fighters would be taking a cut of the ticket sales, Danny refused to comment.The fight night is being held to raise funds for HOPE Sussex, which describes itself as a “community education venue” dedicated to “creating a new home education ethos, that allows kids to live and learn freely in a conscious community.” The head of the school has previously given a speech at an Alpha Men’s Assemble meet-up, while COVID conspiracist influencers like Danny, from “Truth Pills,” have previously urged supporters to donate to the project.The support for HOPE Sussex reflects a broader push within the anti-vax scene to take their kids out of mainstream schooling, in order to shield them from COVID vaccination drives and other influences they see as harmful.Following a VICE World News investigation last year, experts have condemned efforts by COVID conspiracy theorists to take their kids out of regular schools.READ: Sovereign citizens are trying to set up their own anti-vax ‘schools’ in the UK“This is an unregulated way of funnelling children into a conspiracy mindset at a very early age,” said Joe Ondrak, head of investigation for Logically, a tech company that combats online disinformation and monitors Telegram chatrooms where breakaway schools are discussed.
Advertisement
One of the teams of fighters will be led by Danny Glass, a British Army veteran who is a leader of Alpha Men Assemble, a hard-line group that’s been holding combat training sessions intended to prepare members for radical direct action protests against unspecified targets they believe are responsible for the so-called coronavirus plot against the people. READ: Conspiracy theorists ‘Alpha Men Assemble’ hold combat training sessionsThe group is heavily influenced by “sovereign citizen” ideology, a once-obscure conspiracy theory that’s become a driving force in COVID “resistance” movements internationally, whose followers believe that the government is illegitimate and that they’re essentially above the law.
Advertisement
Advertisement